Roe v. Wade, , is a
landmark decision by the
United States Supreme Court on the issue of
abortion. It was decided simultaneously with a companion case,
Doe v. Bolton. The Court ruled 7–2 that a right to privacy under the
Due Process Clause of the
14th Amendment extended to a woman's decision to have an abortion, but that this right must be balanced against the state's two legitimate interests in regulating abortions: protecting women's health and protecting the potentiality of human life. Arguing that these state interests became stronger over the course of a pregnancy, the Court resolved this
balancing test by tying state regulation of abortion to the third trimester of pregnancy.